SKYLAB CHAT

[skylab]

Making rapid progress on Windows 10 setup. The only program so far that failed installation was an older version of Sony Vegas Movie Studio 11, so thankfully it was the only thing that required an upgrade. I've been amazed at the number of 10+ year old programs that still function on Win10. For that reason, I'm warming up to it a little, since I've invested more in programs over the years than in operating systems. I was especially delighted that JASC Paint Shop Pro installed fine, which means I can continue using Animation Shop 3 for my animations and editing...yay!! Here's another screen cap below for any non-Win10 users who need to see proof in the results. I've substituted the default image with my favorite wallpaper, so with it and the appearance of the icons on the desktop, one is not even aware they are using Windows 10 unless they glance at the taskbar...the appearance of the Start button gives it away I've also figured out how to swap the image in the opening welcome screen, called the lock screen in Settings/Personalization.

And finally, I found computer books on Amazon with titles like Windows 10 for Seniors...perfect

Have a good day everyone

 

[skylab]

Almost forgot, here's a Windows 10 Quick Reference PDF

 

[Terre]

Actual reference material. Yay!

 

[skylab]

I have a couple of books arriving tomorrow from Amazon, this is one of them (covers basic computer knowledge plus Windows 10, perfect for my family):

My Windows 10 Computer for Seniors (2nd Edition)

Also, there are a number of Windows PDF books at this link, browse through for Windows 10 stuff. An example, Teach Yourself Visually Windows 10

Fortunately 10 has been out long enough now so that there are quite a few books on the subject, plus there has been time to work through the bugs for software compatibility. I just completed the first Win10 drive setup, and even the BigFishGames.com download manager and Amazon puzzle games work fine, so I'm delighted so far (Claws and Feathers and Claws and Feathers 2 are a hoot, if you like funny strategy games....user comments indicate that they don't work on Win10, but that's incorrect...it's the download manager that messes up, so just skip using the manager, and download the installers for the games directly out of your Games and Software section of your Amazon account, and activate the games while you are logged into Amazon, then they will work in the future without having to be online).

The "how to" books will help if I should hit a snag in the future. Things like Windows updates are handled very differently in 10 (under Settings/Update & Security. The Control Panel still exists (uninstalling programs is still there), but some of the power features have been moved to "Settings", probably in order to be consistent with how tablets are controlled by Settings.

Anyway, hope this info will be helpful for anyone considering an upgrade to Windows 10 this year...at least it could possibly lessen the fear of the unknown as far as software compatibility. By the way, I discovered one of my older systems that I could deactivate Poser 11 in order to shift it to the Win10 drive, worked fine, so now I know I'll have enough to go around I've also installed DAZ Studio 4.10 and all the Genesis+ stuff, and, again, no problems so far. My enormous Poser runtime copied onto Win10 last night while I rested, so I think I'm finally back to business as usual I'll take a few days to rest up my eyes, and get ready for when the main workstation arrives...it will be Win10 Pro with 16 gig of ram and a 2T hard drive, with a video card of some description...not top of the line of course, but then not integrated graphics either like I've had before, so we'll see how it does...I'm hoping it will at least hop the hurdle of OpenGL 3.3. The refurbished workstation HP drive is here on Amazon...the price climbs upward as you add more features with the Customize Now button. The HP drive for my kitchen that I just completed setting up is here on Amazon....a lot cheaper, but with no bells or whistles, and just integrated graphics....but is surprisingly peppy for a basic refurbished drive. With these prices, I could get mine, plus drives for my family, for what one would cost new in the store. You just have to use an internet adapter in order to get online as they don't usually come with built-in wifi....I use refurbished usb Linksys adapters. It's certainly possible to add a graphics card to these cheaper drives, just remember that it's not a roomy tower, and consider the size of the space available when adding cards. Anyway, it's a workable solution for seniors on a fixed income

 

[Terre]

Sounds good so far.

 

[skylab]

Test render to ensure that everything is playing nicely together in Win10...Andy with an .obj import from DS4 into Poser 11 of the Hacker Computer Workstation. So far, so good, no hiccups. I also noticed that all the flickering in the Poser 11 content folder has ceased...so far it has not jumped a bit...so it's quite possible that the flickering issue was due to Poser 11 running in Windows 7 (?) I really like that it has settled down, for whatever reason

 

[Miss B]

That flickering/scrolling used to drive me crazy, and is why I switched to an external library setup so I can view it with my browser.

As far as it being a problem with Win7, I don't think that was the issue, because there have been several updates since then, and no one's complaining about it anymore.

 

[skylab]

The flickering and rapid scrolling (the wild, rapid scrolling was the worst) of P11's content folder remained a mystery to me for a long time. I always kept things updated, including P11, but this is the first time I've been able to use Poser 11 with the content folder just holding still and being normal. Whatever the reason was, I'm glad it's gone

 

[Miss B]

Good to know, though I probably won't upgrade again until P12 comes out (hopefully sooner, rather than later).

I've gotten so used to viewing it through my browser, I'm not sure if I'd go back to viewing it within the Poser UI. I have sooooo much more room this way.

 

[skylab]

I know what you mean...I used Dimension 3D XL Library when Poser 8 was released, since without it, I had no library at all for about six months...haha. Now that was a miserable experience. I liked the large, colorful icons in XL, and ease of access.

On another note, glad to see that Hivewire will be continuing to create animals. That reminds me, I can play with the Mule Deer this week while I'm taking a break

 

[skylab]

Interesting free vehicle on ShareCG...a 1966 Mustang Fastback Time Machine

Also, I keep losing track of this link, so I'll include it here...vehicles in .lwo and .obj formats.

 

[Terre]

Good evening. Glad to see things are coming along well.

 

[skylab]

Hey Terre Yes, I'm done with installations on the first Win10 drive, so I'm taking a break to do some resting, and a little playing maybe. Hope all is well on your end

 

[Terre]

Yup. Doing fine here, thanks.

 

[skylab]

Hivewire Mule Deer, enhanced with PD Howler

 

[skylab]

...and this reminds me of the family of white-tailed deer that make their home in the woods in our backyard...each year there are new members of the family added. We see them most often in the fall, along with rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs, raccoons, and many types of birds, including cardinals and robins

 

[skylab]

My Windows 10 main workstation arrived safely today, so I'm starting the process of setting it up. Thankfully I've learned a lot on the first drives that I set up, so this should go a little faster. This one has a graphics card so we'll see if it helps out with some of the snags I've been hitting lately. Since I just got the drive online, thought I'd come up for air and let everyone know that I'll be messing with drive setup again for awhile. Have a good day!

 

[skylab]

Well, I just successfully loaded Blender 2.80 beta...which means I'm over the OpenGL 3.3 obstacle...yay!! Blair put an AMD Radeon HD 7000 graphics card in the workstation drive, which was just enough to get by without being so expensive Now....I have to face Windows updates for awhile

 

[Miss B]

Yes, that's the main reason I haven't installed and played with Blender 2.8. I need to be able to update my OpenGL as well.

 

[skylab]

Hey Miss B That little $150 Windows 7 refurbished drive that I was using had integrated graphics so there was no hope of moving forward. It was fine with what it had been doing, but I have a feeling that some of the issues I had been having recently were related to it being unable to adequately do the job. So, for $250, I was able to double the ram to 16 gig, double the hard drive space to 2T, finally have a DVD writer instead of having to use a USB portable DVD writer, and the AMD 7000 graphics card which was the main convincing issue that it was time to let go of "old faithful". And I must say, once I found and disabled all the many Win10 processes that run in the background, I'm enjoying snag-free surfing, and finally eliminating the error boxes and your system is not enough to cut the mustard messages. Poser 11 is running better than ever, what little I've been able to play with it. I'm still adjusting as to where to find things in order to tweak the settings....Windows 7 users would have to lean heavily upon the Control Panel and the Settings box in order to get oriented to the changes. I'm so accustomed to Blender 2.80 failing to load that it was indeed a shock awhile ago when it appeared on the screen...hallelujah!